by Shannah Jay
You need stronger units.'
'We don't follow your path and we can't all wear your machines.' Herra's voice was flatly emphatic, the tone of an Elder Sister who was not to be argued with. 'I shal wear one of the new tracers for you, and Davred will, but certainly not Katia or Carryn.'
Fiana now chose to enter the conversation. 'Elder Sister, would it hurt if I wore one of them? I’m not fully of the Sisterhood now.'
The image was clear enough to show Soo the sadness on Herra's face.
'But not fully lost to us, either, Fiana.'
She shrugged. 'I'll wear one, if the Lord Davred thinks it'll help our Quest. He takes no harm from the one he carries.'
'He is special. Of both worlds. You are not. And I am in Enhancement, so I may venture what others should not.'
Mak joined in. 'What about Benjan, then? He's not a Sister.'
'No.' Herra's tone was sharp. 'Not Benjan. He is of the Kindred and he is in a state of transition to our ways. Those who tread a new path cannot risk contamination.'
'Contamination! Why do you use that word?'
'Because that's how I see things.' Herra looked across the smouldering ashes of the camp fire at Jonner. 'My friend, you've devoted your life to material objects and are unlikely to change. Would you carry one of the tracers for our friends in the sky?'
'I don't understand what's going on, Elder Sister. Who are you talking to? I can't see anyone.' Jonner had been nearly bursting with curiosity, but hadn’t dared interrupt.
Davred held up the small black box. 'Before I came down as the Manifestation of the God, Jonner, I lived in a - a sort of village in the sky. My people come from far away, from another planet - er - world across the sky. We have QUEST Shannah Jay 185
special ships that travel across space.'
'Traders?' Jonner was trying hard to understand this new magic.
'Of a sort.'
'Do your people want to trade with the Twelve Claims?'
'Possibly. They want to observe this world first. The machines they’re sending will allow them to do that in safety, from a distance.'
Jonner asked the two questions nearest to his heart. 'Would I get first trading rights if I helped? Is there any danger in that thing you want me to carry?'
'No danger in the box itself. I shall carry one too. And yes, if you help us, we can give you priority, if we get as far as trading. But we can't guarantee that we will.'
'Who can guarantee anything?' Jonner shrugged. 'I'll chance it! 'Bout time I tried something new. It may be my turn to get lucky.'
Soo interrupted them. 'Davred, I must go now. I'll arrange to drop some tracers as soon as Robler gives permission.
I'll include both personal and fixed ones. Perhaps you could leave some of the fixed ones behind as you go along -
when you get back among settlements, that is.'
'Of course.'
'Right, then. There's quite a large area of flat ground ahead of you. We can drop them there. Now, Mak and I really must go. Robler will be round to check up on me soon. He doesn't trust me any more. I should have been on the job he set for me five minutes ago.'
'Five minutes! Does he time you so closely? What's the matter with him to fuss like that? It's unprofessional!'
Mak joined in. 'Robler's changed greatly. He's become very dangerous, so dangerous, Davred, that Soo and I took out a permanent marriage contract to make sure he has no rights of wardship over either of us, just in case anything goes wrong.' He gave one of his wintry smiles. 'But also, I will confess, we did it because it seemed the right thing to do, given our feelings for one another. One of the effects of Sunrise, do you think? My people gave up permanent contracts of marriage centuries ago and we've never endorsed the idea of romantic love. The permanent contract is an anachronism, really, but still - it seemed right for us.' And his smile spoke of his love even more clearly than his words did.
'Break contact!' said Soo urgently.
* * *
'The God speaks within us al ,' murmured Herra. 'He's working on your friends now, Davred, teaching them to love.'
Davred shook his head in disbelief. 'Mak is the last person I would have expected to understand such things. He doesn't believe in anything he can't see.'
She smiled. 'How little we understand each other's souls! Your friend seeks the truth in life, does he not?'
'Yes. In his own way.'
'Is that so far removed from our Quest for Wisdom?'
'No, but - wel , I’m surprised that Mak would enter into a permanent marriage contract!'
'And Soo.'
'Yes, Mak and Soo.' Davred shrugged. 'Well, may our Brother watch over them.'
Two hours later an object hummed across the sky and arced to earth somewhere ahead of the two wagons. The deleff stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of it and bugled loudly, then began to stamp their feet and snort through their nostrils. It was a few minutes before they were willing to move onward again.
QUEST Shannah Jay 186
Jonner gulped and fingered his throwing knife. Benjan grew watchful, and Carryn clutched his arm in panic.
'There's nothing to be afraid of,' called Davred.
'Would that thing be carrying the tracers Soo spoke of?' Herra asked him.
'Yes. The thing is cal ed a transcap. It's a sort of flying container. You might liken it to a smal flying wagon.'
'I had thought your friends would come themselves in one of your flying wagons to give us the tracers,' said Herra.
'No, you cal them lifeships, do you not. We must try to use the correct names.'
'We only use lifeships for transporting people. We use transcaps with dropjets for sending goods.'
'Dropjets?'
'Machines which push the transcap in the direction needed. They're only made to take the transcap from space to a predetermined point on a planet, with enough extra fuel to make a few adjustments on the way. We can make return transcaps, but they're a lot more expensive to manufacture. Simple transcaps are a very economical form of transporting goods.'
'I wish I had some of those things,' said Jonner feelingly. 'You wouldn't credit the percentage of profit we traders have to allow for loss of goods in transit. If things flew through the air, who could steal them? I've had whole consignments taken or lost more times than I care to remember, especially in recent years.'
'People would become too dependent on physical equipment, if it were easy to obtain such machines,' said Herra.
'Instead, we need to concentrate on developing our own skills. The memory, properly trained, is an excellent recorder.'
She saw that the deleff had walked out of their harness for a rest and turned to Katia. 'While the deleff are resting, Katia, would you relate the events which led to your Second Choosing? And create an image of them, if you can.
Deleff, may we pray that you'll allow us to stay here for long enough to finish this? We wish to show our friends something.'
The deleff tossed their heads, moving round so that they were facing the group and positioning themselves to watch what was happening. Less and less did they seem like unthinking animals; now, everyone had learnt to speak to them, explain things and ask their help, rather than giving them orders.
Katia settled into Recall, then began to concentrate on one of her emerging skills. A small shimmering image of Herra flickered into focus by the side of the track. The simulacrum raised its hands and spoke again the words of the prophecy. Towards the end, the image became markedly fainter and beads of sweat began to form on Katia's forehead.
When the prophecy was over, the image vanished abruptly.
'I can’t hold it any longer, Elder Sister. Shall I just recite the words and events which followed the prophecy?'
'No. That will suffice as a demonstration of what we can do, the skills that we mustn’t lose by allowing machines to perform them for us.'
Katia's eyes were sparkling. 'I love to create images and illusions.'
'So do I.' Herra snapped her
fingers and a drift of blossoms fluttered to the ground, where they lay for a moment before vanishing.
Sh'ellen bugled loudly, but made no sign of wishing to set off. His eyes were fixed on Katia.
'I think they wish to communicate with me again.' Katia walked forward, bowed to the deleffal and placed her hands on either side of Sh'ellen's great head. She closed her eyes to aid concentration. When she opened them again, she looked slightly puzzled.
'I - it's hard to be sure - but I think we shall arrive at their - their home, city, nest, council place - I can't find a single term in our language which corresponds adequately - but we'l arrive there quite soon. The deleffal wishes us to make the pictures again, when we get there, for the High Deleffal.' The great head tossed up and down, as if to reinforce what she’d said, then Sh'ellen nudged Katia gently out of the way and began to paw the ground.
'Well, that message is clear enough to anyone,' said Cheral. 'They want to leave now. I must say, I'll be glad to arrive somewhere and stop for a while. There's not much pleasure in travelling across a flat plain covered in rocks and sand, QUEST Shannah Jay 187
going towards hills which never seem to get any closer!
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Chapter 30: ROBLER'S TRANSCAP
An hour later they reached the transcap. The deleff halted next to it and Sh'ellen stretched his head forward to examine the casing of the long slim object.
Davred moved forward, for this was his province.
'Tell the deleff what you're doing,' Katia reminded him.
'The dropjet, which pushed this transcap through the air, was attached here.' Davred indicated a charred area at one end.
The ruff furled and unfurled, then Sh'ellen bent his head again to sniff the object.
'Once it's launched from the satel ite, the transcap fal s very quickly. The dropjet is used mainly to slow it down, so that it doesn't get too hot. It also adjusts the direction, if necessary.' As he ran his finger along the side of the featureless capsule, the casing began to split into two pieces along its length, the lower half resting on the ground, cupping the contents.
A soft grey nose poked the contents of the transcap and a rough bluish tongue flickered tentatively along the matt creamy surface. The blueness of the deleff's tongues always seemed slightly incongruous to Davred, as if they had been dyed. Sh'el en moved his head from side to side, seeming puzzled, then leaned forward to sniff and lick the box again.
More tossing of the head, then the deleffal sneezed violently and took a few steps backwards. He moved forward again, this time to nudge Davred.
'I think he wishes to communicate with you,' suggested Katia.
Davred frowned down at the transcap, then moved over to lay his hands on the sides of the deleffal's head, as he had seen Katia do. He closed his eyes, then they flew open in shock before closing again.
'It feels very strange, talking to the deleff,' Katia whispered to Herra.
Everyone watched in fascination and the silence stretched for several minutes before Davred opened his eyes again and shook his head, as if to clear it. Katia moved quickly forward to support him as he staggered.
'He'l be all right in a minute. One feels dizzy and disoriented after an attempt at communication.'
'I'm all right. The deleff would like one of these new tracers to give to their High Council,' said Davred. 'They want to observe my people. They also want to travel the wynds of heaven with us.' He frowned. 'Some of the concepts they use are strange to me. What's a wynd?'
'A wynd is a narrow track,' said Cheral, always eager to instruct. 'It's an old-fashioned term, not much used nowadays. It's from the times when there was only one claim and very few good tracks. Are the roads narrow in the sky, Lord Davred?'
Davred took a deep breath to give himself time to think. How was he to explain space travel to such an audience?
'There are no roads. It's mostly - well, just empty space between the worlds. One flies across this space inside a spaceship. It must be an airtight vehicle, because there isn't even air to breathe out there. Equipment for making air has to be taken inside the ship. And to grow food for long journeys. So, deleffal, we shal not need help, even such powerful help as you can offer, to pull the spaceships.'
Sh'ellen bugled loudly and tossed his head.
QUEST Shannah Jay 188
Katia stretched out her hands towards the creature and was shaken off. Davred was nudged until he placed his hands on Sh'el en's head again. The contact was brief, but when he broke it, Davred's face was white with strain. 'It's so hard,' he whispered. 'Why is it so hard to communicate with them?'
'What did the deleffal say, Lord Davred?' asked Herra quietly.
'He wishes me to tel it all again to the High Deleffal and - and to the Conclave of Chroniclers. Sh'ellen says it's too hard for him to understand properly in his early life cycle.'
Sh'ellen began pawing at the ground. Hurriedly, those who wished to ride got back into the wagons. The deleff had now taken complete charge of the journey.
Benjan and Jonner picked up the half shells of the transcap and slid them and their contents on the back of the second wagon. For once Jonner abandoned his seat in the leading wagon to sit in the rear and inspect not only the contents, but the fabric of the containers. He seemed fascinated by the smoothness of the ceramoplast, which was like no material he’d ever seen.
Davred laid his head on Katia's lap and closed his eyes, letting her body cushion him against the jolting of the wagon while he allowed himself to recover. 'Why does it hurt so much to communicate with them?'
'I don't know.' She sat for a moment, idly running her fingers through Davred's hair. 'And what did Sh'ellen mean by
"his early life cycle", do you suppose? I thought he was full-grown. I've never seen any deleff larger than him.'
'Jonner, how long do deleff live?' Davred called.
'No one knows. But they have been known to stay with families for two generations. Usually, though, they stay for one generation at most.'
'Then they might be very long-lived?'
'They might be anything, really. All we know is that they're friendly and helpful to Traders if you treat 'em right. So we do.'
Herra, sitting in her usual position on the driving seat, shook her head. Why have we not questioned this before? she wondered. Over all the centuries, we've just accepted the deleff. And that's not like us.
* * *
The wagons set off again next morning as soon as First Gathering was over. The deleff didn't even allow their passengers time to heat or consume any food. Feet were stamped, heads tossed, ruffs raised and lowered, until no one was in any doubt that the deleff intended to move off, with or without their passengers.
Everyone rushed to and fro, preparing the walk-in harness and loading the wagons. No sooner had they finished than the deleff set off, leaving Benjan still tidying the camp site and Carryn shrieking his name in fear.
Cheral snapped her fingers in front of Carryn's face. 'Control yourself, girl. There's absolutely no danger of Benjan being left behind for more than a few minutes. The deleff travel much more slowly than he can run.'
Carryn gasped, and for a moment it was touch and go whether she would calm down without help. Then she gulped and fought for control. 'It - he makes me feel safe,' she explained in a shaking voice, her eyes fol owing Benjan, who had now caught up with the wagons and was striding alongside, watching her anxiously.
A shake of Cheral's head prevented him from climbing on board. 'You need more exercise, Benjan,' she said in her novice-mistress voice. 'You can do your muscle-toning exercises, then Carryn may join you for a brisk walk before we break our fast.'
Benjan nodded and ran forward along the track, beginning some of the jumps and movement patterns that Herra and Cheral had taught him. His ears were alert for any sign that Carryn had let panic overwhelm her and he was quite prepared to brave Cheral's wrath and run back to help the girl if necessary.
'Now, Carryn,' said Cheral firmly, 'first
exercise! And let that poor man keep his muscles in trim. The sooner you get yourself fit, the sooner you'll be able to join him in his morning runs.' Til you become too large, she thought. The Elder Sister had not mentioned Carryn's condition to anyone, but Cheral had the Gift of Nurture and could recognise a QUEST Shannah Jay 189
pregnant woman or girl when she saw one. It was just to be hoped that the unknown father of this poor baby had had no hereditary taint to pass on to his offspring. Whoever he was.
She demonstrated to Carryn a new exercise designed specifically for a woman in the early stages of pregnancy and ignored Katia's shocked recognition of its purpose. The Elder Sister would have to explain to Carryn soon that she was with child, thought Cheral. They were too small a group to keep anything secret for long.
'No!' Cheral said loudly, automatically repositioning Carryn's body. 'Like this. Feel it. A very small difference in posture, but a big difference in effect. Yes. That's better.'
When the muscle-toning exercises were over, she nodded. 'Your mother taught you well. You learn a new exercise quickly. That makes a difference!' She saw that Carryn's attention was on the large bearlike figure of Benjan and sighed.
She was surprised that the Elder Sister had allowed that dependence to continue.
Really, the sooner they found somewhere to settle down and establish a civilised way of life again, the better it would be for them all. This was no way to live in harmony with oneself, always scrambling off along some new path. 'Go and have your walk now,' she said at last. 'Further than yesterday and be sure to remember the breathing patterns for efficient movement.' She watched Carryn, moving extremely inefficiently, rush to join Benjan, then went over to the other wagon, shaking her head.
'You'll have to tell her soon,' she said to Herra. 'She'll need to start preparing her body. She's too young, really, but she's a well-developed girl, so it'll not harm her to have the baby. No reason to intervene.'